Jules Verne Forum

<jvf@Gilead.org.il>

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 19961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009

(no subject)

From: <margot~at~ibm.net>
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 99 14:18:47 +0000
To: t.downey~at~student.murdoch.edu.au
Cc: JVF~at~math.technion.ac.il

Yesterday, Andrew Nash forwarded an interesting question from Therese
Downey (Australia) to our Jules Verne Forum. The point was the origin
of the name "Six-Quatre" in "Frritt-Flacc".

Frritt-Flacc is a very important short story in JV's works, not only
because of its fantasy content and its hoffmannesque atmosphere, but
mainly because JV is maniplating and bending the French language to
be the background of the fantasy environment of the story. JV invents
new French words to underline the supernatural atmosphere.

Several scholars have studied and published articles about
Frritt-Flacc. You will find the references at the end of this posting.
Surprisingly nobody yet tried to find out the origin of the name
"Six-Quatre". You are the first, Therese.

Frritt-Flacc was first published in the only issue of "Le Figaro
illustré" of the year 1884-1885. Later (November 4th, 1886), Hetzel
included a modified version of Frritt-Flacc in the volume containing
"Un Billet de loterie" (A Lottery Ticket).

The name "Six-Quatre" was already present in the first version.

According to "The Jules Verne Encyclopedia" (Taves & Michaluk),
Frritt-Flacc was translated under the title "Dr. Trifulgas" in the July
1892 issue of the Strand Magazine. It was not included in the volume
containing "The Lottery Ticket". The July 1957 issue of the SF magazine
Saturn carried "The Ordeal of Dr. Trifulgas" translated by Willis T.
Bradley. The November 1959 issue of F&SF carried "Frritt-Flacc"
translated by Idrysin Oliver Evans who reprinted it in the 1965 edition
of the Fitzroy "Yesterday and Tomorrow". Finally, in 1984, the
anthology of fantastic literature "Black Water" (Clarckson N. Potter)
included "The Storm" translated by Alberto Manguel.

We have at least three different translations of Frritt-Flacc. All use
"Six-Four" as the name of Dr.Trifulgas's house.

Thanks to our French colleagues Gilles Carpentier and Aline
Cresci-Sanigou, we have two explanations of the name "Six-Four : a
reference to two sides of a die or a reference to a fishermen village
named Six-fours close to Hyères in the South of France.

May I suggest a third interpretation ? I'm not a musician, but the
expression "Six-Quatre" sounds like the "deux-quatre" ("two-four" is
missing in Towle's 1874 bad translation) or "six-huit" ("six-eight"
which is present in Towle's translation) of the chapter 7 of "Doctor
Ox". It is said that JV liked three things more than everything else :
music, sea and liberty. "Floating Island" and "Doctor Ox" are the two
main musical works of JV. Could "Six-Quatre" be a musical reference ? Is
such a rythm possible ?

Jean-Michel Margot

And here the bibliographic references :

Evans, Idrisyn Oliver : Introduction. In : "Jules Verne -
Frritt-Flacc", The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Vol. 16.
No 5. P. 40-45. November 1959.
 
Souriau, Etienne : Sur l'esthétique des mots et des langages forgés.
Revue d'esthétique, nouvelle série. P. 19-48. No 1. January-March 1965.

Chesneaux, Jean : L'invention linguistique chez Jules Verne. Langues et
Technique - Nature et Société. Tome 1 : Approche linguistique. Paris,
Editions Klincksieck, 400 p. P. 345-351. Vol. 1. 1972.

Baronian, Jean-Baptiste : Un certain goût de l'étrange. Préface de :
"La France fantastique de Balzac à Louys. Verviers, André Gérard -
Marabout, 448 p.". P. 9-14. 1973.

Moskowitz, Sam : Science Fiction by Gaslight. A History and
Anthropology in the Popular Magazines, 1891-1911. Westport
(Connecticut), Hyperion Press, Inc. 364 P. 1974.

Roudène, Alex : Un Jules Verne inconnu. L'Inconnu. P. 43-46. No 29.
July 1978.

Destombes, Marcel & Gondolo della Riva, Piero : Jules Verne à la
Bibliothèque nationale. Bulletin de la Bibliothèque nationale (Paris).
P. 115-125. Vol. 3. No 3. September 1978.

Compère, Daniel : Jules Verne et la musique - 5. Structures musicales
et romanesques. Le Musicien picard (Amiens). P. 10-11. No 23.
October 1979.

Dumas, Olivier : Les versions de "Frritt-Flacc" ou la liberté
retrouvée. Bulletin de la Société Jules Verne (Nouvelle série). P.
98-100. Vol. 15. No 59. June-September 1981.

Dehs, Volker : Dans le sillage des felzanes de Luktrop. Bulletin de la
Société Jules Verne (Nouvelle série). P. 267-272. Vol. 16. No 63. July-
September 1982.

Raymond, François : "Frritt-Flacc" revisité. La Revue des Lettres
Modernes (Paris, Minard), Série Jules Verne. P. 157-161. Vol. 5.
September 1987.

Chevrier, Alain : Le Verbier de "Fritt-Flacc". Pour une scatanalyse de
Jules Verne. J.V., Amiens, Centre de Documentation Jules Verne. P.
5-12. No 22. April-June 1992.

Dehs, Volker : L'âme de l'oncle Lidenbrock. Science et religion dans
les "Voyages Extraordinaires". La Revue des Lettres Modernes (Paris,
Minard), Série Jules Verne. P. 85-107. Vol. 6. Nos 1083-1092. December
1992.

Pizzo, Massimo del : Viaggi e passaggi. Letture di Jules Verne. Chieti,
Solfanelli. 112 p. March 1995.
Received on Sun 25 Apr 1999 - 05:17:24 IDT

JV.Gilead.org.il
Copyright © Zvi Har’El
$Date: 2009/02/01 22:36:11 $$